Are you confused about parking your car in the streets of Budapest? You don’t understand the parking system and the pricing in a town in the county? You are not alone but we found something for you.
Some weeks ago, I drove to Budapest and when I wanted to find a parking space in District 7, I went to the parking meter and met this ugly object:
As you can see it far from being informative and self-explanatory, even I, a native speaker, did not understand what to do, what is more, I did not find any information about the parking fees and the hours must be paid for.
I angrily went over to a parking attendant and complained him about the chaos. In his response he explained that the hourly fees and such information are displayed in the tiny LCD panel on the side of the blue, battered device.
“Yeah, people never find it” – said the attendant, that I took as a confession of the unusable system.
When I got home I started to search for a website that gives me a clear picture of the capital’s parking zones and fees but I did not find any.
Finally, I came across an interactive map, which I found extremely useful.
It belongs to the National Mobile Payment company, which covers highways, parking, etc. You can use the mobile system, if you want, but the major point is their map that shows the exact parking zones in the Hungarian town, including the actual fees and the operational hours. (The site is in limited English too.)
Anyway, the parking issues in Hungary belong to the local councils, so there are different systems in operation in different towns. Most of them are Pay and Display, which means you have to pay at the meters in advance and display the receipt on the windshield.
The price can range between 80 and 500 HUF per hour and be prepared, many of the parking meters do not accept notes, only coins.
